WATCH: CNN Host Demolishes Democrats’ Epstein Narrative

CNN lead data analyst Harry Enten was once again forced to correct a bogus narrative on the Jeffrey Epstein case and its effect on President Donald Trump’s base.

During a recent installment of “News Night With Abby Phillip,” former ESPN host Jemele Hill gloated over the supposed “collapse” of the president’s support due to confusing messaging surrounding the Epstein case and the release of related documents.

“This is the downside of the strategy that he has imported that got him elected. His entire strategy with the Epstein files was to try to give people the strong impression that this was Bill Clinton, this was Democrats, this was something that they were trying to hide,” Hill claimed, insisting that Trump made Epstein a major focus of his campaign despite the fact that it was not even listed in his “Agenda 47” plan, nor did it show up in his list of top 20 campaign promises.

“And now that this is all turned on him, he won’t be able to convince his base that this is a transparent investigation at all,” she continued. “Like, I don’t know what it would take for them to believe that there’s no coverup. I mean, you’ve convinced a lot of these people, part of your whole spiel is that the government isn’t to be trusted. And then you’re asking these same people to suddenly trust that this was all on the up and up, there is no list, that everything is as it appears, and they’re just not gonna buy it.”

Seemingly convinced that Trump’s support has collapsed, Hill went on to express shock that Epstein managed to bring him down rather than “xenophobia” or “racism.”

Enten then jumped in to caution that he’s “not so sure” Trump’s support has suffered at all as a result of the controversy. “Look, I think for Trump it does feel a little bit like the Lady Doth protest a little too much, right? But when it comes to his approval rating with Republicans, it’s basically as solid as it ever was,” he said.

“Where you saw the smallest decline was among Republicans. If you look at the average of polls, his approval rating with Republicans, still at about 90%. Of course, those same Republicans say they are dissatisfied with the amount of information that’s been released so far. Everyone is dissatisfied with the amount of information that’s been released so far with concern of the Epstein files. Everyone thinks that there’s something more going on there,” he further noted before reiterating that Trump is still very popular among Republicans.

Enten’s opinion was influenced by CNN’s most recent approval poll, which found that Trump’s favorability among Republican voters has increased since the Epstein drama surged back into the news earlier this month.

“I mean look, I think this one surprised me a bit because of all these complaints online going after Trump and the Epstein files, you might think his approval ratings were going down with Republicans. If anything, they’re going up,” the lead data analyst said when going over the results. In the network’s own poll, Trump’s approval among GOP respondents climbed to 88 percent, up from 86 percent in the previous survey.

Quinnipiac — which had former Vice President Kamala Harris winning every swing state with the exception of Georgia in its final 2024 presidential election poll — found even higher support for the president. Among Republican respondents, 90 percent expressed support for the president’s job performance, up from 87 percent in the prior poll.

“If anything, Donald Trump’s approval rating has gone up since this whole Epstein sagastarted. He is at the apex, or close there too, in terms of his popularity with Republican voters. Epstein files, complaints, or not,” Enten said, to which CNN’s Audie Cornish remarked, “You just proved that not everything online is real.”